that was the finding of a university of washington study published in the journal "prevention." it tracked 1,100 pedestrians in seattle, washington and found more than a third of people text, talk or listen to music when they cross the street. only one in four people followed the proper safety protocol, looking both ways and obeying the light. vehicle-pedestrian accidents kill 4,000 people every year in the u.s. and injure 60,000 others. the man who co-invented the bar code joseph woodland has died in new jersey. woodland's bar codes are on nearly every product in stores today. he came up with the idea after drawing morse code dots and dashes in the sand on a miami beach, absent-mindedly letting his fingers drag a series of parallel lines instead. the idea was patented in 1952 but not put into wide use until the 1970s. woodland was 91 years old. those are some of the day's major stories. now, back to margaret. >> warner: 18 days and counting until the end of the year when the government reaches the edge of the so-called fiscal cliff. congressional correspondent kwame holman kick